The invention relates to a mobile floor cleaning machine, having a chassis on which running wheels are rotatably mounted, and having at least one cleaning unit which has at least one cleaning tool and is coupled to the chassis via a guide member.
These types of floor cleaning machines may be moved along a floor surface to be cleaned, whereby the floor surface may be cleaned by means of the at least one cleaning tool of the cleaning unit. For this purpose, the at least one cleaning tool is customarily rotatably drivable. These types of floor cleaning machines are known in the form of scrubbers, for example, in which the cleaning unit is configured as a brush head on which at least one scrubbing roller, which may be set in rotation about its rotational axis by a motor, is rotatably mounted.
The cleaning unit is coupled to the chassis via guiding members and lifting members. The cleaning unit may be moved back and forth between a raised position and a lowered position by means of the lifting member. In the raised position, the at least one cleaning tool of the cleaning unit is situated at a distance from the floor surface, and in the lowered position the at least one cleaning tool may work on the floor surface. The guide member is used to transmit thrust forces from the chassis to the cleaning unit during travel of the floor cleaning machine. The cleaning unit may be guided by the chassis of the floor cleaning machine by means of the guide member.
Mobile floor cleaning machines of the type stated at the outset are known from EP 0 705 559 A1 and EP 0 910 981 A1. For coupling the cleaning unit to the chassis, EP 0 705 559 A1 proposes the use of two connecting arms which are formed to be sufficiently rigid to guide the cleaning unit. For this purpose, EP 0 910 981 A1 proposes a parallelogram-type suspension having two pivot levers.
In the known configurations, difficulties arise in the event of a collision of the floor cleaning machine with an obstacle. Since the cleaning unit in many cases is situated at the front end of the floor cleaning machine in the direction of travel, frontal collision forces acting on the floor cleaning machine are transmitted from the cleaning unit to the chassis via the guide member. This may result in damage to the floor cleaning machine and also to the obstacle.
It is an object of the present invention to improve a mobile floor cleaning machine of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that the risk of damage to the floor cleaning machine or to an obstacle in the event of a frontal collision with the obstacle may be minimized.